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I was teaching a high school Spanish class, and a student (who was raised in Texas, but has Mexican relatives) told me that he has heard "veni" instead of "viene". I'd like to know if this is something that is used in Mexico or Texas, or maybe something that he has misunderstood. My only thought is that he has heard, "Ven ahí" and morphed it into one word. There is also "Venid" without hearing the "d" but that would be uncommon around Texas. Also, please don't focus on "viene" being in the present tense and other forms being commands (or any other forms you may suggest). This student wasn't saying it was exactly the same, and wasn't focused on the tense being used, just that he'd heard a different word.

9 Answers
9

"Veni" isn't a word in standard Spanish. However, vení (with an accent on the i) is the affirmative imperative vos form of venir in places where voseo occurs. But according to the Wikipedia article on voseo, vos is "only used [in Mexico] in some small parts of Chiapas and Tabasco, being completely unused in the rest of the country." However, voseo is standard in Argentina and Uruguay.

If the student is from Texas and Mexico, as others have said it's probably more likely that he heard something like ven y ver (as part of a longer sentence) and thought he was hearing the word "veni."

"ven y ver" is not correct. You should conjugate the second verb (it can't be in infinitive). So it can be in imperative: "ven y ve (esto)" (though it sounds a bit unnatural) or in future: "ven y verás".
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JaviMar 23 '12 at 22:00

If you join a conjugated verb with an infinitive verb is like if you say in English: "come and to see*" or "come and seeing*". It doesn't make sense. Maybe that fragment can be part of a sentence where "ven" is used inside a subordinate clause where the main clause has the verb in infinitive form. For example in a to-do List: "Seguir las instrucciones que ven y ver si se consigue el resultado". But a sentence like "ven y ver" is senseless.
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JaviMar 23 '12 at 23:31

1

Maybe I don't hear it correctly, but I hear this all the time in Argentina. +vos is used instead of tu there.
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Lyndsey FergusonMar 29 '12 at 2:08

1

This is also correct in Nicaragua …… "veni ve", "come see "……
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NecronetMay 18 '12 at 21:39

I'm from Mexico myself, and I've never heard veni (And I've been in Northern and Central Mexico and Texas), so I'd say that student maybe got confused as you mention with something like Ven ahi or even vine said the wrong way.

I've heard this numerous times in both rural and urban areas. You can hear and see voseo being used everywhere, especially in advertisements. Nicaraguans swallow their S's however, so vos sounds more like vo. Vos so loca = Vo so loca :)

Al leat in Spain "veni" is only used when quoting at Julius Caesar, as noted by imanol, but "vení" probably might be understand like "venid". So "¡vos, vení!!" ~ "¡vosotros, venid!" ergo mean "¡tú,ven!". "Vos" is never used in modern spanish in Spain, but this is nothing compared to decrypt the modern andalusian "venacapacá" that mean "ven acá para acá" ("come here, right here").

Vení is only used by spanish speakers who speak with the vosotros. People typically from Nicaragua, Argentina, and Uruguay speak with that. Therefore, the word vení simply means the same thing as "come" or if we say venite means "come here". It's the same as if other people say "ven aquí" or just "ven".

vos is not the same as vosotros. Sorry but that is simply wrong. The current accepted answer pretty much got it right. It's also worth noting that voseo is not only wide-spread in the countries you mentioned.
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clinchJan 3 at 16:45